What hotels can learn from HAVENS LIVING about staff housing

A hotel finds the right candidate for its front desk. Her qualifications fit, the interviews go well and both sides want to work together. But then the move falls through because of a question that at first seems to have little to do with the job: where is the new employee going to live? For hotels in tight housing markets, this is exactly what can become a problem. An open position cannot be filled with an attractive employment contract alone if affordable housing is lacking.

Nora Gehlen knows the hotel industry from her own career. Among others, she has worked for Adina Apartment Hotels, H-Hotels and Deutsche Hospitality. Since June 2026, she has been responsible at International Campus for operational cooperation with corporate clients and for expanding the allocations of apartments at HAVENS LIVING.¹

This means she now deals with a question that is becoming increasingly important for many employers: how can companies make it easier for their staff to get started in a new place of work?

In a written interview with eingecheckt®, Gehlen explains why staff housing is about more than providing a furnished room, and why smaller hotels do not have to leave this issue to the big groups.

When the search for a home decides a hire

The difficulty often begins before the first day at work. Anyone moving to another city for a new job has to find a tenancy, organise the move and get to know their new surroundings. In hotels, there are also working hours that are not always compatible with a long commute.

“In tight housing markets, it can be the deciding factor,” says Gehlen of the importance of housing for recruitment.

The situation is particularly difficult for people coming to Germany from abroad, she says. They often have to organise their search for a home from a distance while preparing for a new start at work.

Figures from the Federal Statistical Office show that housing can be a considerable financial burden, especially in cities. According to the microcensus, the average rent-to-income ratio of main tenant households in large cities was 29 per cent of net household income in 2022. For households that moved in from 2019 onwards, it was as high as 30.9 per cent.² The figures are not a specific study of the hotel industry, but they illustrate the financial conditions that people looking for a home may face.

For Gehlen, this has a consequence for employers: “In my view, the housing question therefore belongs early on in the job interview and in workforce planning.”

400 apartments for employees: how HAVENS LIVING works

Alongside THE FIZZ, a brand focused on student living, International Campus also operates HAVENS LIVING. The company was founded in 2011 and develops and operates residential concepts at locations across Europe.³

At HAVENS LIVING, companies can rent individual apartments or larger allocations for their staff. The offer is currently available in Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg. Since September 2025, companies have rented a total of 400 apartments for their employees.¹

The model is aimed, for example, at international skilled workers, new employees at a location or staff who are working temporarily on a project in another city.

Gehlen describes the process as an individual arrangement between provider and employer. First, needs, rental period and budget are clarified. Employees can then move into fully equipped apartments with their own kitchen and bathroom.

There are also communal areas, events and contact persons on site.

From the employer’s point of view, the key difference to a conventional staff flat lies in the organisational effort. Instead of finding, furnishing and continuously managing flats itself, a company can draw on infrastructure that already exists.

However, HAVENS LIVING is not available everywhere. For hotels outside the three cities mentioned, the question therefore remains which comparable solutions are available locally.

Why a higher salary does not solve every housing problem

For hoteliers, the economic question is crucial. After all, a rented staff flat also costs money. Is a higher salary not the simpler route?

Gehlen considers this view too narrow. “A higher salary alone does not always solve the problem. Where there is a shortage of housing, additional income does not create an available home.”

In her view, businesses therefore need to look at the overall costs. If positions remain vacant, renewed recruitment, additional workload and restrictions on what the hotel can offer can also generate costs.

A housing solution can therefore make economic sense if it helps to fill vacancies or to keep new employees at the location. That does not mean, however, that every staff flat automatically pays off.

How high an appropriate subsidy should be, which rental period makes sense and how costs are shared between hotel and employees depends on the individual business. That is precisely why it is worth looking not only at the rent but also at the specific staffing needs before making a decision.

Arriving means more than being handed a key

Gehlen places great importance on an aspect that goes beyond accommodation alone. From the hotel industry, she knows how important a good welcome is. For new employees, she says, this idea should also apply outside the workplace.

“What convinces me above all is the link between arriving well and the decision to stay longer.”

In her assessment, anyone starting a new job needs a private retreat, but also opportunities to build social contacts. Especially when moving from abroad, familiar people and existing networks are often missing at first.

HAVENS LIVING therefore relies on community events and opportunities to meet within its residential buildings. According to Gehlen, the offer is complemented by a cooperation with nilo, through which residents receive free access to digital support for their mental health.

For hotels, a basic principle can be derived from this: accommodation makes the organisational start easier, but it does not replace personal integration. Anyone who recruits staff from other regions or countries should therefore also consider how these people can find their feet outside working hours.

What a hotel with 25 rooms can actually do

A family-run hotel cannot usually implement the same housing concepts as a large hotel group. In Gehlen’s view, it does not have to.

“For a small business, the solution does not have to start with a property of its own.”

Even a single rented flat can help to accommodate new employees during their first months, she says. Financial subsidies, help with finding a place or temporary accommodation are also conceivable.

Schlossgut Gross Schwansee shows what this can look like in a privately run hotel: it has a staff house, the team helps with the search for a flat, and in certain situations a hotel room can be made available temporarily. Janet Schroeder talked about this in her interview with eingecheckt®.

This lowers the barrier to entry. A hotel does not have to build its own staff house or immediately sign several long-term leases. It can first check for which positions a lack of housing is really an obstacle and which manageable solution suits the business.

Important factors, she says, are transparent conditions, adequate housing quality and a location that fits in with everyday working life. Cheap accommodation far outside town may be of little use to staff working early or late shifts.

For small businesses, what matters is not the size of the offer but its reliability.

Will housing become part of the job offer?

Gehlen expects that employers in particularly tight regions will increasingly have to offer a concrete answer to the housing question. That does not necessarily mean a permanently available staff flat, she says.

For international skilled workers, a ready-to-move-in apartment for the first few months can be a suitable solution. Someone relocating with a family, by contrast, has different needs.

The HAVENS LIVING model shows how companies can outsource the organisation of such accommodation. For most family-run hotels, the answer is likely to be smaller: a rented flat, a subsidy or reliable support with the search.

The decisive change may lie in not making housing an issue only when a job offer is about to fall through because of the search for a home. Anyone who wants to recruit staff from further afield should know early on what support their own business can offer.

That is no guarantee of successful recruitment. But it removes an obstacle that even an attractive job cannot always make up for.

For all four options, costs and conditions should be clearly agreed, housing quality should be adequate and the commute should be practicable.

More information about the housing model described: HAVENS LIVING